Infectious diesease

Question 1

What are the three factors that influence disease transmission?

Answer 1

Agent
* Infectivity
* Pathogenicity
* Virulence
* Antigenic stability
* Survival

Environment
* Weather
* Housing
* Geography
* Occupational
* Air quality
* Food

Host
* Age
* Sex
* Genetic
* Behavior
* Health status

Question 2

What are the differences between gram+ and gram- - bacteria in terms of causing disease?

Answer 2

Gram-positive secrete exotoxins and gram-negative bacteria have a lipid membrane that contains endotoxin.

Question 3

What are the differences between an endemic, an epidemic, and a pandemic?

Answer 3

• Endemic: Transmission occurs, but stable
• Epidemic: The number of cases increases
• Pandemic: when epidemics occur on several continents = global epidemic

Question 4

Why are colds short-term and AIDS long-term?

Answer 4

Influenza for example has no DNA integration. The RNA virus goes into the cell, does replication, transcription into a protein, blows up the cell, and dies - a lytic cycle
HIV is integrated into the DNA, as it carries an enzyme that integrates the viral RNA into the host’s DNA via reverse transcriptase and continuously makes the viral DNA - lysogenic cycle.

Question 5

Why are misfolded proteins dangerous?

Answer 5

Misfolded proteins are infectious, non-detectable, can aggregate healthy proteins, and cause Neurodegenerative diseases.